Instincts Have Implications
3 ways that instincts impact your team (#3 may surprise you)
Guess what? You’re wired in a specific and beautiful way, and that means you have naturally given instincts instilled inside of you. Instincts have implications that affect your career, business, and your teams. In this blog post we’ll identify 3 specific ways that your instincts can impact you professionally, specifically looking at how they affect your team, and how you can harness your instincts to your advantage.
First, let’s define what an instinct is. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “instinct is a largely inheritable and unalterable tendency to make a complete and specific response to environmental stimuli without involving reason.” Essentially, it’s your natural response wired within your person. At The Instinctive Advantage, we measure instinct by using the Kolbe Wisdom™ line of products. When using Kolbe, there are four ways to measure instinct:
How you gather & share information
How you organize
How you deal with risk & uncertainty
How you handle space & tangibles
Keep reading to learn more (5 min read).
These wirings can impact your team in the following ways:
Leveraging the talents you have:
Understanding instincts will help you leverage the talents within your team. By understanding how each individual is wired, as a leader you’ll be better qualified to utilize your team on an individual – and team – basis.Think about it this way: If your team consists of Suzie, Jake, and Sharon, odds are that each of them have different natural instincts and responses. So, by understanding the naturally defined reactions that each will have, you’ll be better poised to lead, organization, and manage each of them. The more you know, the more you’ll be prepared to grow.
Giving you deadlines:
Understanding different time horizons is critical for a productive team. Some people will take action directly after a meeting, and others will tend to work best last minute. With this in mind, you can best structure your teams around their instincts on timeline.Think about it this way: If your team needs to consistently work “under the gun,” it will be advantageous for you to have team members who work well within strict, time-sensitive, and stressful situations. On the flipside, it’s important to also note that individuals who work best with longer-term timelines and objectives will be better suited for projects that require such action.
Manage the expectation:
By managing expectations, you will be able to structure job titles, projects and tasks in a way that benefits the needs of your team. Let’s use the timing example from above. Say you are the person that thrives at the last minute. I wholeheartedly encourage you to do your work under the gun because it works for you. However, it is your responsibility to communicate this to your team-members. Don’t pretend to do things in advance, but build accountability by having your work completed by the deadline. Remember, instincts are unalterable tendencies, so you won’t be able to simply “fix” yourself; you’ll need to build around it.
Instincts hold power in your professional life, and they’re not going anywhere. Are you willing to look more intentionally at them? The more you know about yourself and team, the more you’ll be able to effectively manage and grow yourself professionally.
Schedule a free consultation with our team today to learn more about your own instincts and how they can benefit your team. Click the link below to learn more.
— Erin